With little else to go on, Democrats are scrutinizing Trump nominee Kathy Kraninger based on her involvement in immigration policy and Puerto Rico, rather than on the consumer finance laws she would be tasked with enforcing as Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director.
Kraninger, an official at the White House Office of Management and Budget, is set to testify at a confirmation hearing Thursday in the Senate Banking Committee.
Democratic senators are sure to sound out her views on the agency’s role of policing products like mortgages, credit cards, and student loans, because she has no track record or experience in finance beyond managing the funding of the regulatory agencies as a Trump budget official.
Because her experience, instead, is in budget management and in serving at the Department of Homeland Security, she is sure to face tough questions about some of the administration’s most controversial actions, even if they don’t pertain to the job she would have.
On Tuesday, all the Democrats on the committee asked Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, to postpone the hearing until the administration provided more information about Kraninger’s work.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., released a 16-page report from her staff blaming Kraninger for “some of the Trump Administration’s most costly – and tragic – management failures.” The report focused on the administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, and its response to the disaster relief effort following Hurricane Maria’s destruction in Puerto Rico.
Despite her lack of relevant credentials, Kraninger has received support from Senate Republicans and several industry groups.
She would be replacing Mick Mulvaney, the Office of Management and Budget director who is currently also serving as acting director of the CFPB. In his time at the agency, Mulvaney acted quickly to dial back its aggressive enforcement efforts and institute a new focus on regulatory relief. Among other more substantive changes, such as moving to rework a major new rule on payday lending, Mulvaney had renamed the agency the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, or BCFP.
Republicans and industry figures are hopeful that Kraninger, if confirmed, would pick up where Mulvaney left off. If she is not confirmed, though, Mulvaney would be allowed to stay in place under the rules regarding vacancies.
For that reason, outside consumer groups that favor a stronger CFPB have criticized Kraninger’s nomination.
“Kathy Kraninger’s nomination is just a political play for Mick Mulvaney to cement his anti-consumer agenda at the CFPB,” said Debbie Goldstein, executive vice president at the Center for Responsible Lending. “She has no experience in protecting Americans from predatory lenders and has a record of mismanagement that’s harmed families across the country.”
